Religious

Notre Dame Seminary, St. Joseph’s Hall

This existing 70,000 square foot four story building was renovated to contain a chapel, classrooms, offices, study rooms, conference rooms, restrooms, bathrooms, and bedrooms for students and visiting priests. Each dormitory room also has individual fan coil units, new plumbing and lighting fixtures, restored windows, new doors, painted walls, and a complete sprinkler system. The exterior work includes parking lot asphalting and re-striping, treatment to the historical windows, cleaning of existing brick and mortar on the façade, and repainting of the existing railings and other miscellaneous metals. The exterior scope of work enhanced both the appearance and the functionality of the building envelope.

Schoen Funeral Home, Chapel Addition

Construction of the Chapel Addition at the Schoen Funeral Home is now complete. The exterior of the façade consists of storefront glazing and plaster with Roman arches to tie the new building with the historical façade of the existing one. Two new Porte Cochere’s were added to the right of the new building. The interior contains architectural wood beams with wood coffer ceilings and painted gypsum board walls. We are pleased to have built this project with Schoen Funeral Home as they have been a leader in funeral services for decades.

Tulane Catholic Center

The Catholic Center at Tulane University is known as The Father Val Ambrose McInnes, OP Center for Catholic Life and located on Audubon Street in the heart of Tulane University.

The original Catholic Center, which was first occupied in 1954, was demolished 2014. The interior of the new, 8,400 square foot, three-story building consists of a large social room, 100 seat chapel with confessional, office space for chaplain and staff, study halls with technology support, and a full service kitchen. The building façade portrays an old colonial-style, New Orleans building with hardie board siding and porch columns. The color scheme of multiple shades of green and white on the façade represents the pride of the Green Wave.

Divine Mercy Catholic Church

The Divine Mercy Parish Church project was completed in the fourth quarter of 2013 with a collective effort from all parties, including the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Post Architects, and Divine Mercy Parish, to provide the congregation with a new church to better serve the parishioners in the Kenner area. On November 16, 2013, the church held the dedication mass, which was attended by over 1,000 parishioners and visitors.

The construction of this 20,000 square foot church includes a 24-hour Adoration Chapel, a choir area, a 74 foot high bell tower, and stained glass windows at the main entrance as well as within the exterior doors surrounding the church. It has the capacity to seat about 1,000 people. The 150,000 square foot paved parking area allows for approximately 380 cars. All interior lighting is controlled by a dimming system so that variations to the lighting can be programmed for masses, weddings, and other church events.

We would like to thank the entire project team, including Fr. David Dufour, Fr. Bryan Howard and Jay Lazarre of Divine Mercy Catholic Church, Mr. Andre Villere of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Mr. Skipper Post and Mr. Brian Falcon of Post Architects, Mr. Kent Gasperecz and Mr. Christopher Tauzin of Assaf, Simoneaux, Tauzin & Associates, Inc., Mr. Dean McKee and Mr. Alan Amos of Fox-Nesbit Engineering, LLC., Digital Engineering and all subcontractors and suppliers, for their hard work and dedication to this beautiful church.

Divine Mercy Parish Center

The Divine Mercy Parish Center is an addition to the same campus where the Divine Mercy Catholic Church was completed. This building was completed in June 2014 and provides the Church with a space to host fundraising events, meetings, and future campus expansion planning. The construction of this 7,000 square foot building includes a metal building with exterior stucco plaster and a metal roof. The interior includes a multipurpose room, a warming kitchen, restrooms, and shell space for a future office space build out.

Notre Dame Seminary Renovation

The majority of this renovation consisted of mechanical and electrical system improvements and interior finishes in the dormitory rooms at Shaw Hall and a complete renovation of the communal restroom facilities. The existing chillers, which served St. Joseph’s Hall and Shaw Hall, were replaced with new chillers, and each dormitory room has a new fan coil unit, which replaced the old window units. As an upgrade to Shaw Hall’s fire suppression system, each of the four stairwells now contain sprinkler standpipes to facilitate the fire department’s efforts in the event of a fire. Electrical enhancements include new electrical panels and gear to accommodate the mechanical system upgrades, the extension of the fire alarm system into the dormitory rooms, and power and lighting additions.

The interior finishes to the dormitory rooms and the fresh new look of the restrooms has provided the facility with a face lift that has been well received by the seminarians. The dormitory rooms have all been repainted, and the existing carpet was removed so that the existing underlying wood floors could be refinished. New molding and trim work in each of the rooms add a nice feature to the walls. The restrooms have new plaster walls, individual showers and tubs, and toilet partitions. The existing flooring was removed so that a new resinous flooring could be installed. This new flooring allows easier cleaning and maintenance of the restroom facility.

St. Martha Catholic Church

This 12,000 square foot building features a pile supported foundation and a structural steel frame. The main exterior feature is a 50 foot tall cast stone cross which projects from the brick tower face, resembling a steeple. This exterior area is flanked by brick walls which create an intimate entrance and gathering space complete with cast stone nosed stairs and a reflecting pool. Covering the entry and walkway is an exposed concrete post-tensioned cantilevered slab. The remainder of the building exterior is covered in zinc-standing seam panels and butt glazed storefront. In order to satisfy store-water retention, an inverted roof acts as a scupper, which drains behind the Altar, creating the illusion of a waterfall. During rains this feature is visible to the parishioners from the interior of the church.

The interior surfaces are finished with a plaster veneer system, giving the walls a handcrafted appearance. Scored and stained concrete floors line the main areas of the church. The interior liturgical furnishings are custom made of Appalachian Cherry, and the pews are white oak. Approximately 75 suspended glass pendant light fixtures were shipped from Germany, each of which was individually located and suspended at different elevations as directed by the architect.

St. Rita Catholic Church

New Orleans, Louisiana

Physical Location: 2729 Lowerline Street, New Orleans, LA 70125

Hurricane Katrina repairs to the St. Rita Church included replacing the entire acoustical ceiling system, plaster and millwork repairs, repainting the interior of the church, and placing glass on the exterior of the building. In an effort to allow the congregation to utilize the facility, the work was to performed in phases, repairing half of the church at a time. It was necessary to erect a scaffolding structure to reach the work on the ceiling, which at its highest, rises to over 40 feet.

Mary Queen of Peace

The church has two small dormers on each side of the building along with one larger dormer at the rear wall, and each dormer has a glazed aluminum curtainwall system with cement stucco surrounding the windows. The doors leading from the Narthex to the Nave are mahogany wood stile and rail doors with tempered glazing. The doors accompanied by the porcelain tile flooring give this project a beautifully appointed natural setting. Several pendant light fixtures hang from this ceiling, which greatly compliment the light from the circular dormer windows at each side of the Nave and the impressive curtain wall window behind the Tabernacle. Cove lighting illuminates the Stations of the Cross that are positioned below the dormer windows. There is an immersion Baptistery adjacent to the Altar consisting of a marble basin complimented with gold mosaic tiles. The CMU walls supporting this marble basin have an applied marble finish as well.

On the opposite side of the Altar lies a raised choir area. Additionally, the walls adjacent to the Altar are finished with a wood wall covering with mosaic tile panels surrounded by recessed light fixtures. The interior design and the architectural finishes give this church a natural but elegant appearance.

The church’s exterior structural features and finishes are surely a highlighted focal point for the building. The front entrance consists of an arched curtainwall system surrounded by cement stucco and masonry and groundface blocks and brick at the exterior.

First English Lutheran Church

This new church is a multi-story building with approximately 11,000 square feet. The facility houses many historical pieces, such as the altar and the painting of the Resurrection of Christ, that date back as far as 1893. The altar, previously in another church, is composed of cypress and has been completely refurbished. Constructed in 1911, the bell in the belfry is manually operated by a rope and pulley system. There are refurbished stained glass panels, over 100 years old, which were customized into doors for the Sacristy and Vestibule area and utilized as side lights when entering the Sanctuary through the Narthex.

The exterior is constructed of Arriscraft block, modular brick with cast stone copings, classic bronze metal window frames with clear and low-e glass, copper flashing, ground accent lighting, gutters and downspouts connected to underground drainage system. The elevation to the top of the cross on the steeple is 75 feet, and the steeple is constructed of aluminum and covered with asphalt shingles.

St. Peter Catholic Church

This project consisted of the addition of pre-cast gothic shaped arches which drastically enhance the exterior features of the church. Interior renovations to the Sanctuary area were also done to increase the seating capacity.